


lighter

by katertran



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Anxiety, F/F, Fluff, Haircuts, Im projecting hard with this one, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:21:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24972214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katertran/pseuds/katertran
Summary: Adora decides to use her newfound freedom in a somewhat unusual way.Or, Adora acts like a gay teen and cuts all her hair off
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 102





	lighter

The long awaited return of Etheria’s magic had brought life to the planet again in a way no one had ever experienced. With Horde Prime defeated and the war at an end, the planet had begun to heal its wounds, casting out the dark shadows that had lingered there for so long. Without the constant threat of Horde attacks, each kingdom is free to rebuild in peace. A great weight had been lifted from the shoulders of every Etherian.

Unfortunately, this weight still rests uncomfortably heavy on Adora’s mind. It had been weeks since the heart and she had been trying to allow the tension to leave her body but nothing seemed to work. For so long she had thought that being She Ra meant that her future had long been determined for her, and for so long she had accepted that as an inevitability. Now though, the path before her seems unclear. Before, she had been so sure of her actions, but Catra had made her realize she didn’t have to follow that path, and it had certainly thrown her for a loop. She should feel empowered at the realization, should feel confident taking her future into her own hands for the first time in her life, but instead all she can feel is anxiety and powerlessness. She’s used to taking orders, to not having the ability to make her own choices. The thought of taking control of her life is both exciting and deeply frightening.

“Adora?”

She blinks a few times, slowly refocusing on the vast expanse of cloudless sky above the field where she lays. The palms of her hands are cool against the grass beneath them, a stark contrast to the heat from the sun overhead. There’s a warm hand on her shoulder. She turns her head to look at the hand, her eyes slowly following the arm attached to it and eventually landing on Catra’s face. Her head rests on her other arm, a warm smile adorning her face as she watches Adora curiously. 

“Were you listening to anything I just said?” Catra asks, raising an eyebrow. Adora stares at her for a moment before slowly shaking her head. Catra laughs at that, and she feels herself flush at the admission. “I knew it. Any time you get that weird far away look on your face, you’re basically on another planet.”

Catra flops onto her back and stretches, collapsing again with a contented sigh. “What were you even thinking about?” she asks, eyes closed against the warmth of the sun. Adora watches her rest, a smile creeping onto her face. She’d always been envious of Catra, how she can be so confident and open where Adora is closed off. Catra had always had the confidence to make her own choices, and she had made Adora realize that she should be able to do the same. Fear had gotten in the way so often: fear of disappointing others, of disappointing herself, of doing the wrong thing. Now she didn’t have that fear, she was free to do whatever she wanted. She had done nothing with this newfound freedom, and it made her think that maybe she finally should.

“Nothing really,” Adora says shrugging, even though Catra won’t see. “Y’know, I was thinking I might cut my hair. I’ve never had it any shorter than this and it’s starting to get hot and…do you think I’d look good with short hair?”

Catra moves closer to Adora so they lay mere inches apart. She laces her fingers through Adora’s, kissing her lightly on the cheek. “I think you’d look good no matter what,” she says, tone rich with love. She puts one hand on the other side of her face, pulling her into a kiss and leaving her breathless.

The exchange stays on Adora’s mind throughout the remainder of the day. Catra is always so supportive of her agency, but she hadn’t understood what she’d meant. It wasn’t just that she wanted to change her style. It somehow felt…more, as if this small, relatively insignificant personal decision somehow marked a turning point in her life. 

Once night has fallen and Adora is alone with her thoughts, she does something uncharacteristic of her: she does something impulsive. Standing before her bathroom mirror with a pair of scissors, she cuts a small amount from her hair as evenly as she can with her hands shaking as they are. The discarded locks fall to the floor at her feet, and with each snip she feels just a bit lighter. 

She makes one final cut and gently places the scissors on the sink. Her hands run through the newly cut strands as she takes in her work in the mirror and…it looks exactly the same. It’s less even than she had thought, and if she didn’t know better, she would say none had been cut at all. The hair strewn about the floor obviously proved otherwise, but to Adora’s dismay, even the amount on the ground was much less than expected. 

In frustration, Adora grabs the scissors again and hacks off large sections of hair all at once, determined. She doesn’t care about evenness anymore. She just wants it gone, wants to cut away the frustration and anger she’s held at being meant to play a part in other people’s agendas for years. For once, she wants to do something of her own accord, no matter how reckless and impulsive it may be.

The last strand drops to the ground, decisive in its finality. The scissors drop to the floor, landing with a heavy thud in the pile of hair, and Adora leans on the edge of the sink. She hadn’t noticed how heavy she had been breathing, and when she looks in the mirror again her face is flushed red. One hand reaches up to her hair and regret begins to pool in her stomach. 

It’s even more of a mess than she had expected. It looks like a child’s work, haphazard and abstract, not that she had expected it to look good by any means. The worst part of it, though, is that Adora doesn’t even recognize herself. She had always had long hair, and without it she couldn’t help but see a stranger in the mirror.

“Oh, no no no no no,” she groans, her hand running through the uneven locks. She should’ve taken her time, made sure she didn’t cut too much, and now she had made a huge mistake.

Adora hears the bedroom door shut heavily and immediately pauses in her ministrations. Her breathing stops as footsteps wander the room, slowly inching towards the bathroom door. She doesn’t want anyone to see her like this and her instinct is to get rid of the hair littering the ground, but she’s afraid to make any noise that could indicate her presence.

There’s a knock at the door, and Adora breathes in sharply. “Adora? Are you in there?” Catra calls from the other side, her voice unsure.

“Uh, yeah! I’m in here! Give me a sec!” Adora yells, panic edging into her voice. She starts scooping up handfuls of hair and throwing them in the garbage as quickly as she can.

“Is something wrong?”

“No! I’m fine!” 

“It doesn’t sound like you’re fine.”

“I’m _fine!_ ”

Catra cracks the door open, just barely peeking through. “Adora, what are you doing?” she asks, surveying what she can. She gasps audibly and pushes the door open all the way. Adora stops, turning away from Catra. “Oh, Adora.”

Adora covers her head with both her arms as much as she can. “I told you not to come in,” she says, her words barely a whisper. 

Catra approaches her slowly, but Adora flinches away from her and she stops abruptly. “You, uh…you really did it. When you said you were cutting your hair, I didn’t think you meant today.”

“I…I didn’t think so either,” Adora says honestly. “I thought I could do this, I thought it would look good, but I was wrong. I don’t even look like myself.” The beginnings of tears sting her eyes, and she brings one hand down to wipe at them.

“Of course you look like yourself,” Catra says after a moment, walking towards her again. She gently guides her arms to her sides and puts her hand on her cheek. “You still look like Adora to me.”

Adora chuckles weakly. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do, but Adora, you don’t need long hair to be you. You just have to be you,” Catra says confidently. She lifts one hand and lightly touches the rough edges of the hair. “You just need to even out the edges, I’m sure it’ll look great. I could do it if you want.”

Adora wipes the last of the tears from her eyes and breathes deeply. “Yeah, that…that would be great,” she says between sniffles.

Catra leaves the bathroom and comes back with a low stool, setting it in front of the mirror and leading Adora to sit. She can’t see her reflection anymore, and she’s thankful for it. Catra cuts slowly and carefully, her measured focus allowing Adora to calm down little by little. 

Eventually, Catra seems satisfied with her work. “See? It looks great,” she proclaims, setting down the scissors and helping Adora stand.

She stands nervously, forcing herself to keep her eyes open as she once again appears in the mirror. Catra really has done a good job of making her hair look decent. She had managed to cut it so that the ends looked relatively even, falling to just below her ears. While it still doesn’t quite look like her, she thinks this is a look she can grow into, and it certainly gives her the feeling of agency she had been looking for. She runs her hands through it, becoming familiar with the stranger staring back at her.

In the corner of the mirror, Catra leans against the door frame and watches her, a smile pulling at her lips. “You like it?” 

“It’s…different,” Adora admits. Her hands drop to her sides and she takes a moment to just admire the new look. “It’ll definitely take some getting used to but…I like it.” 

Catra walks up behind her, pushing the stool out of the way wrapping her arms around Adora’s waist as she locks eyes with her in the mirror. Adora turns in her hold and puts her arms around Catra’s neck before pulling her in for a kiss. When they part, they lean their foreheads together and Adora lets out a contented sigh. “Thanks for doing that. I really should’ve asked for help in the first place,” Adora says.

Catra chuckles. “Yeah, no kidding,” she says jokingly, and Adora rolls her eyes. 

Adora’s gaze falls to the ground, taking in the piles of hair still scattered across the tile. “We…should probably clean that up,” she says, realizing how much of a mess it was. 

“Who’s this we? All of that is your hair,” Catra says smirking. She lifts her head and raises one eyebrow at Adora, daring her to disagree. Adora pulls her in again for one last kiss, and Catra smiles against her lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my friend Frankie for beta reading this and also for the title name, love you Frankie  
> This is kind of a companion piece to "hope is the thing with feathers" but like in the vaguest sense.  
> Come say hi on my [tumblr](https://katertran.tumblr.com/)!


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